Word: burma
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...connection to Aung San Suu Kyi - the democracy icon known in Burma simply as the Lady, who in August was sentenced to 11/2 years of house arrest - that had led me to the Shwe Zedi monastery in the first place. Located in the crumbling Indian Ocean port of Sittwe, Shwe Zedi was the monastery of U Ottama, a revered monk whose pacifist resistance against the colonial British inspired independence hero Aung San, father of Suu Kyi. In 2002, this was one of the few places the Nobel Peace Prize winner visited between stints of house arrest, and she called...
...religious causes. But no amount of merit-making can erase the image of regime goons massacring monks two years ago. Although a frightened hush followed that crackdown, Suu Kyi's sentencing has reignited speculation that the generals have gone too far - and that religious harmony has been disturbed. (Read "Burma Court Finds Aung San Suu Kyi Guilty...
...other peaceful protesters. Two years later, the generals lost badly in elections to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy; the junta ignored the results and tightened its grip on power. In 2010, the regime promises another nationwide ballot, but few expect clean elections. Particularly concerned are members of Burma's 100-plus ethnic minorities, who fear that their already limited autonomy will be erased by the polls. Fighting between the state army and a hill tribe in northern Burma erupted last month, and the monks of Sittwe themselves are from the Arakan minority that chafes against ethnic Burmese rule...
...been one of the Burmese regime's biggest supporters - it has shielded the country from U.N. criticism and poured in foreign investment while Western countries have strengthened economic sanctions - took the unusual step last week of castigating the junta for the Kokang situation. The Chinese Foreign Ministry warned Burma that it should "properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the ... border region." The stability-obsessed Chinese government presumably isn't pleased with gun battles on its southern flank, including stray fire that claimed the life of a Chinese citizen in Yunnan...
...border region is a valuable conduit for Burmese natural resources, which China has become increasingly dependent on. For instance, the planned route for a Chinese-financed natural-gas pipeline from western Burma to China runs near the Kokang region. That project is slated to become the biggest-ever foreign-investment commitment in Burma. As Beijing sends People's Liberation Army reinforcements to its land across from the conflict zone, it can only hope that the Burmese regime keeps a fragile peace with the various ethnic groups in other border areas. "This area has always been like a bomb waiting...